The United States Department of Justice has officially taken possession of Sam Bankman Fried’s Robinhood shares. As part of its filing on January 6 to the court overseeing Blockfi's bankruptcy, the DOJ stated that it now holds 55,273,469 Robinhood shares owned by Bankman Fried.
The Department of Justice also stated that it confiscated over $20 million in U.S. currency as part of ongoing legal actions against Bankman Fried. The shares are estimated to be worth close to $455 million at the time of writing.
The confiscation of the shares does not come as a surprise. Over the past few days, there has been speculation about the possibility of this seizure. To protect his assets, Bankman Fried argued that the Robinhood shares were intended to be used to fund his criminal defense. According to information from a Delaware court filing, Bankman Fried sought to access his Robinhood shares for this purpose.
There has been some controversy surrounding the SBF Robinhood shares before this seizure. Previously, bankrupt crypto lender, Blockfi, had laid claim to the shares per their existing agreement with Bankman Fried.
In a previous agreement, Bankman-Fried pledged his Robinhood investments as collateral for purchasing the crypto lending platform. On November 29, 2022, Blockfi sued Emergent Technologies (SBF's Investment Company) to gain control of those shares.
It is still unclear how this seizure will affect BlockFi’s attempt to enforce its previous agreement with Bankman Fried and his Investment company Emergent Technologies. SBF's criminal trial is set to begin in October.
